Making Eats

Strawberries are starting to sort of go on sale in stores, and that means SUMMER IS COMING! Not a moment too soon… I dug some frozen strawberries out of my freezer to clear some space and make some cooked jam. Strawberry is one of my favorites, and using ClearJel is so much cheaper than pectin. […]

I realize these Christmas gift ideas are coming too late to really be helpful, but I just got them all finished up, so hopefully they can help you next year! Bottled sweets are a great gift idea – I gave out apple pie filling to three of my favorite friends. You could also do spaghetti […]

by guest Kendra Wright I am very honored and excited to be a guest writer for Vanilla Joy. I just love her blog and all her amazing ideas and giveaways!! To introduce myself I’m Kendra you can read more about me at my blog The Things I Love. I have been blogging for just under […]

I found this recipe for am M&M cookie mix in a jar at Organized Christmas, and I think it’s such a beautiful and tasty idea for neighbor gifts this year. Here’s the recipe (from Organized Christmas): Ingredients 1 wide-mouth quart (4-cup) canning jars with lid and rings 1 1 ? 4 Cup sugar 1 1 […]

Need some neighbor gift ideas? Elliot and I have one for you! (Here’s the recipe we used.)

I’ve been trying some recipes from a new cookbook called The Ultimate Appetizers Book by Better Homes and Gardens, and I share with you two goodies. I’ll be breaking these out again on every holiday from here to 2011… {featuring the Wilton Tilt’N Mix, silicone baking mat, and pastry wheel Ricotta Puffs 1 17.3-oz. pkg. […]

Bottling apple pie filling has been one of my favorite projects of THE WHOLE YEAR. The first jar on the left is said apple pie filling, and I think it’s just beautiful. And sooo delicious. One bottle of pie filling will make an 8 or 9″ pie. Just in time for Thanksgiving! Here’s the recipe, […]

After canning peaches I bought a box of nectarines from my favorite orchard and changed it up a bit by doing some fruit filling to freeze and use later in cobblers and smoothies. I used the fruit filling recipe from America’s Test Kitchen and it was sooo easy and tasty! AMERICA’S TEST KITCHEN FRUIT FILLING […]

You can do anything with almond bark. It’s probably my new favorite baking item – you can cover pretty much anything with chocolate and be confident that it will taste good. With some pumpkin cookie cutters you can make some delicious and special rice crispie treats. 1. Make a double batch of rice crispy treats, […]

I have been collecting fun Halloween ideas for a while now – here are 7 of my favorite Halloween treats! Cobweb cookies Ghost cookies Witches’ brooms Haunted gingerbread houses Forked eyeballs Creepy Cupcakes Halloween cookie pizza Happy Haunting!